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Miyerkules, Agosto 31, 2011

Transfer deadline day round-up

? Sunderland's Anton Ferdinand set for medical at QPR
? Stoke agree fee with Birmingham for Cameron Jerome
? Liverpool midfielder Christian Poulsen signs for Evian

QPR have agreed a fee with Sunderland for their 26-year-old defender Anton Ferdinand.

Ferdinand, the younger brother of the Manchester United and England centre-back Rio, moved to the north-east for a reported fee of �8m three years ago from West Ham. He is now set to undergo a medical and discuss personal terms with the Premier League newcomers in London.

Birmingham City have agreed an undisclosed fee with Stoke City for their striker Cameron Jerome. Jerome is now expected to hold talks at the Britannia Stadium over the move, with a fee likely to be in the region of �4m. Birmingham rejected a �3m bid from Fulham for the 25-year-old earlier in the summer window.

Birmingham's Scott Dann, meanwhile, is holding talks with Blackburn Rovers, though a fee is yet to be agreed. The Blackburn manager, Steve Kean, worked with the former Coventry defender during his time as assistant manager to Chris Coleman at the Ricoh Arena.

The Liverpool midfielder Christian Poulsen has joined French club Evian. The Denmark international struggled to make an impression at Anfield after signing for �4.5m from Juventus last summer.

St Etienne have completed the signing of the Ivory Coast international Max Gradel from Leeds United on a four-year deal. Gradel, 23, had handed in a transfer request in the hope of pushing through a return to French football where he started his career as a youngster at Championnet Sport.

St Etienne's coach, Christophe Galtier, said: "[He is] very versatile, able to play on all fronts of the attack and will bring qualities of impact and finishing."

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/aug/31/transfer-deadline-day-qpr-stoke

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Greene leads race to win elusive GB gold

Seven medals may not be enough to convince Charles van Commenee's critics if they all happen to be silver and bronze ? but there is hope on the horizon at the World Championships

The British athletes all agree on at least one subject ? there is a great team spirit at these World Championships. As Phillips Idowu put it earlier this week: "Four days, three medals, two DQs, one team standing together." But there is one conspicuous thing missing so far: a gold medal.

At the start of the championships Charles van Commenee made a point of asking the British press and public to wait until the final race was run before passing judgment. "Then you can hold me accountable for the seven medals," said Van Commenee, referring to the target he has set for the squad.

But if he needed an insight into how impatient the British can be he would have got it just two days into the championships, when one broadsheet had already announced that his team were "flops" after Dwain Chambers and Christine Ohuruogu were disqualified. And Van Commenee will also know that, rightly or wrongly, seven medals may not be enough to convince his critics if they all happen to be silver and bronze.

Mo Farah and Jess Ennis, two of Britain's best gold medal prospects, both finished with silver medals. And at the point when Ennis crossed the finishing line second, if Van Commenee listened carefully he could have hear the sound of knives being sharpened. But the rush to judge may yet look a little foolish. There are still three British gold medal contenders left to compete, and Van Commenee will be hoping at least one of them can deliver.

Dai Greene, the European and Commonwealth 400m hurdles champion, runs in the final of that event on Thursday. He looked in superb form in the semi-finals, cantering through in a time of 48.62sec. "When I came off the bend I didn't see that they were anywhere near me," explained Greene after his semi, "so I took my foot of the gas really. I know in the final I won't have that luxury." He is, as he pointed out, just one of a group of athletes capable of winning the final.

So it would be a stretch to say Greene will start as favourite, the Puerto Rican Javier Coulson was faster than him, and the USA's Bershawn Jackson is also in good form. But Greene looks like a man in racing trim. "I'm firing on all cylinders," said Greene. "I just feel like I can win from anywhere in all my races at the minute." There may be faster men in the field, but most finals in these World Championships have been decided by tactics rather than times, and as he proved with his double last year, Greene knows how to win championship races.

Van Commenee will be relieved that Farah has now confirmed that he will be on the startline for the qualifying round of the 5,000m on Thursday morning. After the stress of a 10km final that was more draining than he had anticipated it would be, Farah and his coach Alberto Salazar were in two minds about whether he would double up. But they have decided that he has recovered enough to run.

Just like in the 10,000m, Farah has the fastest time in the world this year at the distance. The defending champion Kenenisa Bekele has pulled out, but Farah will still be wary about Bernard Lagat, the 36-year-old veteran from the USA who won in Osaka in 2007. Lagat singled Farah out as the man to beat, but has promised to "run smart and use my tactics", to try and do it. And then on Friday Idowu himself starts his own campaign to try and do what Ennis could not, and become the first Briton to defend a world title.

Away from the ranks of the few who are capable of making the top step of the podium it will be intriguing to see whether either Chris Tomlinson or Greg Rutherford, ranked fifth and ninth in the world this year, can finally produce their best in the long jump when it really counts on Friday. And then there are the two new recruits, the 100m hurdler Tiffany Porter, ranked fifth in the world, and Yamile Aldama, who qualified in fifth for the triple jump final. A few shrewd judges have also slipped a little each-way bet on Hannah England in the 1,500m.

Andy Bull

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/aug/31/race-for-gold-world-championships

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About Hilux 22856

Taina Kami Enoka

A letter to the Samoa Observer raises concerns about a certain red RHD Hilux vehicle.
Said to belong to the CEO of the Pacific Service Commission (PSC) Fuimapuao Naea Beth Onesemo, the vehicle is reportedly being driven by her husband.

The vehicle in question carries license plate 22856. Says the letter: ?This is a Government vehicle for the use of the CEO (of the) PSC.
?It is tinted and has all the bull bars and everything and it has never carried a Government license plate.?

Source: http://www.samoaobserver.ws/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=35034:about-hilux&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50

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Vince Cable: disingenuous bankers are trying to derail reforms

Banking sector using economic turmoil to argue against regulatory change, says business secretary

Vince Cable has accused bankers of using the economic turmoil in Europe to try to derail reform of the financial sector.

The business secretary said that "louder and louder voices" were being raised among some of the big British banks giving warning that regulatory change in Britain would put the recovery at risk.

The Independent Commission on Banking is expected to recommend separating banks' retail operations from their investment arms when it reports on 12 September.

There have been attacks on the proposals from the director general of the CBI, John Cridland, and British Bankers' Association's chief executive, Angela Knight.

Cridland has said taking action to reform the banks now would be "barking mad", while Knight warned imposing the measures on lenders risked denting confidence and cutting the supply of credit.

However, Cable said in an interview with the Times that the fact that there were still fears about the collapse of big financial institutions was "all the more reason for grappling with this issue".

"It is disingenuous in the extreme to use the current context to argue against reform. Banks are in a way trying to create a panic around something which they know has got to happen," he said.

Cable has long favoured the separation of retail and investment banking. He added: "The governor of the Bank of England and many other people have been arguing that we have to deal with the 'too big to fail' problem. We can't have big global banks with balance sheets bigger than British GDP underwritten by the taxpayer; this can't go on and it has got to be dealt with."

The business secretary also said that he did not expect another 2008-style meltdown in the banking sector, but acknowledged that difficulties could still lie ahead for the British economy.

"To my mind, the greater worry is not a massive financial crisis again but it is a general slowing down of western economies, with all the problems that presents for employment and long-term dynamism," said Cable.

In comments reported in the Financial Times, Cridland had said: "Taking action at this moment ? this moment of growth peril, which weakens the ability of banks in Britain to provide the finance that businesses need to grow ? is just to me barking mad."

He added that a perceived political need for action after banks were bailed out in 2008 was driving the scale and pace of reform, and warned that "there's an own goal here about to be scored if we get this wrong".

Ben Quinn

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/aug/31/vince-cable-bankers-reforms

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Martes, Agosto 30, 2011

Broad urges England not to be overawed

The Twenty20 captain's first game in charge ended in disaster but he is upbeat about the second

Stuart Broad has urged England's young Twenty20 team to ignore the hype generated by the IPL and assert their right to be measured alongside the world's best in the one-off T20 international in Manchester.

In the city that knows a bit about sporting glamour, with Manchester still celebrating a weekend that brought 13 goals for United and City against north London rivals, it is India's glamorous domestic Twenty20 that can rival the passion while England's version struggles for prominence.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India's captain, was present at Old Trafford to watch United put eight goals past Arsenal on Sunday and, just down the road at the cricket stadium of the same name, he bore an expression of confidence again.

The IPL, presented as the villain during India's 4-0 Test whitewash, variously regarded as responsible for fatigue, slack techniques and a disenchantment in India with Test cricket, is now seen as a potential saviour.

"One thing is certain. Whatever happens bad in India it will be blamed on IPL," Dhoni said. "But IPL is a good exposure for players. This match, and the one-day series that follows, is important for us."

Dhoni seemed nonplussed by another injury blow that has forced Gautam Gambhir to miss the rest of the tour with concussion, after seeing an eye specialist, and the oddity of Rahul Dravid making his Twenty20 debut at 38. Dravid is a great player, enjoying a wonderful tour, but, if England made such a decision, they would face ridicule and rightly so. England, lest we forget, are World Twenty20 champions. But excitement at the emergence of bold and innovative young players such as Ben Stokes, Alex Hales and Jos Buttler is tempered by a suspicion that an education in England's Friends Life t20 is not an automatic passage to success.

Broad does not lightly dismiss such issues. "We have players coming into the side who might have seen IPL on TV and they might build something up in their mind that might not be there," he said. "Yes, it is important we do our research on India but, if we get our individual skills right, we have the talent to go a long way. It's two talented sides against each other ? the 50-over world champions against the Twenty20 world champions."

In India supporters of Chennai Super Kings or Royal Challengers Bangalore must have scoffed in disbelief, preferring to recall how Broad's first venture as Twenty20 captain resulted in a flaccid batting performance against Sri Lanka in Bristol and a trouncing by nine wickets. Broad, who found himself captaining from the boundary at one stage, looked a man under pressure.

County cricket's best young players ? Hales, a destructive front-foot batsman from Nottinghamshire; Buttler, who has overflowed with innovation and confidence at Somerset, even though he can barely cut it in the championship; and Stokes, whom lazy judges dub the new Andrew Flintoff ? are all hoping for a debut.

Broad, by his own admission, has not had time to see much Twenty20 and has yet to play for Notts. It does not do to be cynical, though, because his commitment to his county is unquestionable and he has seen enough to be impressed.

He said: "I try to catch as much Twenty20 as I can, although most of it is on TV. It's always going to be a huge challenge for any player coming out of county cricket but there are some exciting talents coming out of that tournament so it's hard to say it's not working. You get to see how people play with calmness and I think that's vital in international Twenty20 cricket. What shone about a player like Jos Buttler is that he can calmly flick a ball above the keeper's head and then next ball calmly hit it straight, 20 rows back. These guys have confidence to play their own games in domestic cricket and do it very well."

None of the above have attracted a hint of interest from an IPL franchise. English Twenty20 cricket is the mouse with an opportunity to roar.

David Hopps

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/aug/30/stuart-broad-twenty20-england-india

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Manchester United set to post record profits before Asia flotation

? Club will this week record operating profits of �100m
? Profits may help success of shares on Singapore market

Manchester United will this week report record operating profits of more than �100m and are set to use Thursday's financial results as a springboard for a bid to raise up to $1bn (�614m) by floating a minority stake in Singapore.

An increase in revenues, understood to have topped �300m for the first time from last year's figure of �286.4m, has been driven by new overseas sponsorship deals that are likely to have pushed commercial income above �100m for the first time.

That figure does not include the �10m a year DHL training kit sponsorship deal or other recently signed contracts. The club is likely to point out that operating profits have more than doubled from �43m since the Glazers took over in 2005. In contrast to last year's record losses of �83.3m, driven by one-off costs related to a �526m bond issue, the club is expected to record a net profit for the year ending June 2011. But campaigners against the Glazer regime will point to the impact of �45m in annual interest repayments on the club's bottom line.

They calculate that �434m has flowed out of the club in interest, fees and debt repayment since 2005. The chief executive, David Gill, has repeatedly insisted the club can shoulder the interest burden and still compete for the best players. For the ambitious flotation scheme to succeed when it goes ahead in mid-October, Manchester United will have to overcome doubts about the way it is structured. It is understood that the club will pursue a dual share structure, whereby investors will have to purchase one "non-voting" share for every voting share, allowing the Glazers to raise funds while staying in control of the club.

Sources argue it is modelled on the US sports model, where clubs in the NFL and the NBA must have a single designated owner, and will allow for strategic long-term planning and swift decision making. "This structure works best for the club, Manchester United as a company and shareholders and the evidence is the club's results in the last five years," a source said. "It is what works well in football given the rapid nature of decisions required and specialist knowledge of the football transfer market."

But corporate governance experts said it was out of step with best practice and increasingly frowned upon by investors.

A spokesman for the Association of British Insurers said: "Investors in the UK market in particular, and to a lesser extent across Europe, do not favour dual share structures. There is a common idea of one share, one vote, so that your economic interests are the same as your voting interests."

Corporate governance consultancy PIRC said it "approves of the 'one share, one vote' structure for companies share capital, and generally disapproves of dual class stock structures which have varying voting and dividend payments rights".

A spokesman added: "In our view, shareowners who have the same financial commitment to the company should have the same rights. Where a company is creating a new class of shares, or seeking an increase in the number of shares of the class of stock that has superior voting rights, we will usually oppose the capital restructuring."

At the height of the hacking scandal, there was much criticism from shareholders of News Corporation's dual share structure.

Anne Simpson, the corporate governance chief at the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), said last month that not having one vote for each share was "a corruption of the corporate governance system".

She added: "We believe that the control of a company should reflect its ownership. That's capitalism."

Owen Gibson

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/aug/30/manchester-united-record-operating-profits

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Beaten Ennis vows to return stronger

? Briton finds silver lining after losing heptathlon title
? Gold medallist Tatyana Chernova will be main rival in 2012

Jessica Ennis said she felt "devastated" when she realised she had lost her world championship title in a heptathlon that she described "one of the toughest I've had". But by the end of the day she had already found a silver lining to go with her silver medal. "If it was any year then it was good it was this year, before the Olympics, so I can get it out of my system," Ennis said. "I can make the corrections and come back stronger."

Her defeat, to the 23-year-old Russian Tatyana Chernova, may become the first chapter in one of the great rivalries in modern athletics. Ennis is two years older than Chernova and there is, Ennis's coach, Toni Minichello, said, "a hulking gap" between the two of them and the rest of the world. The bronze medallist, Jennifer Oeser, scored 179 fewer points. If Ennis is going to beat Chernova in at the London Games in 2012, she is almost certainly going to have to beat her personal best and Denise Lewis's 11-year-old British record to do it.

Ennis believes she is capable of doing just that. She beat Chernova in five of the seven events, but in effect she lost the title on the javelin, when she was seven metres off her own personal best and exactly 13 metres behind Chernova. "I was so poor and Chernova's was so good and that was enough to take the gold medal," Ennis said. She said she twice slipped on a wet patch of track in her run-up but, as Minichello said, that rather smacked of "clutching at straws".

"I was devastated straight after the javelin," Ennis said. "I knew I had thrown it away. I had a few hours to get my thoughts together. I had to beat her by eight seconds and that was virtually impossible." Minichello joked that it was him, rather than Ennis, who had "done most of the crying. The conversation we had was 'I've let her right in'. So I was a bit weepy."

Ennis's total of 6,751 was 20 points more than the tally that won her the title in Berlin two years ago, but Chernova still finished 129 points ahead. "I think it's been a matter of time for Chernova," Ennis said. "She's had all components, but had just never put it all together in a big championships. She did today and she's a really good, strong athlete. I've always been aware of that and I need to go away and work a bit harder so I can take her next year."

It was a mixed performance from Ennis. She set PBs in the shot put and 800m, and equalled her best in the long jump, but was awful in the javelin, poor in the high jump and, in Minichello's words "went through the hurdles like a lumberjack". He added that for all the talk of making the mistakes now, "you want to win everything you can", but that the pain of defeat was only going to make Ennis work harder still.

Andy Bull

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/aug/30/jessica-ennis-silver-medal-heptathlon

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